When constructing buildings, it is often necessary to associate two pieces of material and such task is often performed using some type of specialized hardware or attachment-element. For wood buildings, for example, it is often necessary to associate two pieces of lumber such as a joist board to a ledger board. For such tasks, attachment-elements (such as joist hangers) are often used.
Joist hangers come in many sizes to support different dimensional sizes of lumber and joists. When building a deck, for example, the prior art method of associating a joist to a ledger board using a joist hanger typically involves a first step of toenailing the decking joists into position along the wall ledger using a galvanized nail. One must be sure to associate the joist to the ledger board so that the top edge of the joist will be even with the top of the flashing on the wall ledger to create a flat/level surface. The next step is to associate a joist hanger tightly around the joist and driving “speed prongs” (provide by the joist hanger) into the ledger board to temporarily hold the joist in place. In such step it is important that one make sure the joist is sitting squarely in the joist hanger without gaps alongside and under the joist. The final step is to associate the joist hanger to the wall ledger and the joist using galvanized nails.
While such method of using a joist hanger to associate two pieces of construction material works well, there is much room for improvement regarding efficiency and consistency.
The disclosed invention relates ornamental features and well as utilitarian methods and tools for improving the efficiency and consistency of associating two pieces of construction material via an attachment-element such as a joist hanger.